I bet Kelsey Grammer, the star of Frasier, breathed a sigh of relief after coming off stage last night at the Coliseum in London, where he had sung his final performance in Man of La Mancha. The musical proved an impossible dream, bringing poor reviews for his Don Quixote and the production itself.
This was the fifth musical theatre show in as many years at the Coliseum produced by Michael Grade and Michael Linnit. What began well with Sweeney Todd, Sunset Boulevard and Carousel was followed last year by their clunky and dated Chess and now a similar La Mancha.
The public was also not fooled by the lure of Grammer, as ticket prices had to be slashed in the second half of the six-week run to try to fill the place. At least the English National Opera, which owns the Coliseum, cashed in on the rental of its vast auditorium, and was not financially liable for the production.
But it does raise questions about, well, its reputation. ENO’s own season ended in April with a misfiring Jack the Ripper, immediately followed by the departure of its artistic director, Daniel Kramer, who had commissioned the opera. So that’s two flops in a row at the Coliseum, though its 2018/19 season had included a wonderful Porgy and Bess and a stunning Akhnaten. I don’t criticise the ENO for putting on musicals rather than operas. The divide, after all, is often not that great. It’s the choices that matter. The board itself now has its own tough choice on the right successor to the mercurial Kramer. Any money on the dynamic Wasfi Kani, who set up Pimlico Opera and Grange Park Opera?
Whenever I read of Fingal’s Cave, Felix Mendelssohn’s haunting music comes to mind. The German composed his Hebrides overture after a visit in 1829. Inspired by the work, Radio 3 listeners will next Sunday be able to hear a remarkable immersive programme from Fingal’s Cave of the melodic acoustics as waves bash the rocks. Using cutting-edge technology, it will include specially written music from Aaron May and the words of Stuart Jeffrey from (the intriguingly named) department of simulation and visualisation at Glasgow School of Art. And with your smartphone you will simultaneously be able to explore the cave through 360-degree visuals.
This is R3’s most adventurous venture yet. It follows a Samuel Beckett play broadcast in 3D (binaural) sound; a hydrophonic mic, capturing the flow of water in its Along the River season; and explorer Horatio Clare’s real-time countryside walks. No wonder I’m switching increasingly to Radio 3 from Radio 4 with its tedious Brexit and Tory leadership waffle.
Last year, I sent photos of two of my landscape paintings to the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition. Bizarrely, I was rejected. All non-academicians enter anonymously, although I have my suspicions about several works in recent years of a decidedly indifferent standard, “revealed” later to be by actor Una Stubbs and comedian Harry Hill. The 2019 show, which opens tomorrow, and which I think has been better curated than usual, is, blessedly, devoid of celebrity artists.
